With a crazy NFL Week 15 in the books, here's a look at how what happened affects the league's races for the playoffs, MVP award and top draft pick:

Everything's lining up for another Packers-Steelers Super Bowl

The Packers and Steelers will learn a lot from their defeats. Green Bay had a chance to lock up the top seed in the NFC playoffs, but blew it with a upset loss at Kansas City. Pittsburgh had a chance to temporarily take the top spot in the AFC, but got roughed up in San Francisco on Monday night. That doesn't mean, however, that it throws either reigning conference champ off the Super Bowl rematch track.

For the Packers, their loss and the 49ers' win only delayed the inevitable. After a long night extended by power outages, the Niners will need to win at surging Seattle just five days later to keep the pressure on the Packers. If the Niners win again in Week 16, it's hard to see the Packers losing to the free-falling Bears in Lambeau Field on Christmas night. In a strange way, the Packers should root for the 49ers, so that team at least secures the No. 2 seed. That would force the biggest NFC threat to the Packers, the Saints, to survive two tough postseason weeks before a potential rematch of their Week 1 thriller in Green Bay.

Because the Steelers joined the Ravens and Texans in losing in Week 15, the 11-3 Patriots are in the driver's seat for the AFC's top seed now, and it will be theirs if they can beat Miami and Buffalo in the final two games. It also keeps the Ravens in the AFC North lead over the Steelers by a head-to-head tiebreaker.

—NOTE: All but three NFL Week 16 games are scheduled for Saturday. The exceptions are Thursday's Texans-Colts game, Sunday's Bears-Packers game and Dec. 26's Falcons-Saints game. Click here for the full NFL Week 16 schedule.

The Black and Gold should see the silver lining from the Niners loss, however. Knowing that they already are in the playoffs, they should strongly consider resting Ben Roethlisberger for the final two games. They should feel pretty confident they can beat the Rams and Browns with Charlie Batch at quarterback. The No. 1 seed may be out of reach now, but considering the Ravens finish at the Bengals, there's still a fighting chance for the Steelers to open the playoffs at home as North champs if they win out.

The Steelers have proved they can win the Super Bowl with a healthy Roethlisberger, no matter where they're seeded, because they are mentally tough enough to win big games on the road. There's no point risking further injury to Roethlisberger for short-term success when they need him at his best to make a deep playoff run.

It's not crazy to think the Eagles will win the NFC East

Remember when we thought Philadelphia's playoff dreams were dashed and the Andy Reid era was in its final weeks? Scratch that.

In another division, their wings would be clipped, but in the East, where 8-8 is looking like a great closing record, Reid can still pull off the greatest trick of his coaching career. With Michael Vick healthy and the defense finally clicking, the Eagles should be confident about their chances the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins the next two games.

The Eagles would also need the Giants to lose to the Jets in Week 16 and beat the Cowboys to create the necessary three-way tie that would suddenly lift them to an improbable East title. That's only four games that need to tilt their way. If the Eagles turn in the same all-around performance they did against the Jets, they will hold up at least their end of the deal.

It's more realistic to think the Cowboys will win the NFC East. There's one game that should make Dallas the angriest when looking back on the past 15 weeks of the season: Their Week 8 loss at Philadelphia. They were dominated on both sides of the ball in an ugly 34-7 defeat for a national audience to see.

As the Cowboys' veteran leaders, Tony Romo and DeMarcus Ware must get their teammates fired up to take the all-important rematch in Arlington on Saturday afternoon.

Looking at the revenge opportunities against the Eagles, key for Jason Garrett and Rob Ryan is taking on an aggressive mentality that will have the Cowboys driving for the division title, not simply trying to hold on to it. That should be easy for Ryan, but Garrett must keep letting red-hot Romo loose and on the attack.

The Broncos are in still good shape for the playoffs

There should be no reason for deflation in Denver after Tim Tebow and his teammates fell hard at home, losing 41-23 to the Patriots. They should have noticed that while they were going through that defeat, the Raiders lost a big fourth-quarter lead at home to Detroit. That means the Broncos leave Week 15 exactly how they entered—one game up in the AFC West race. And now there are just two games to play.

While Oakland must travel to play the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium and finish with the December-surging Chargers at home, the Broncos draw the reeling Bills and play host to the Chiefs in Week 17.

The Broncos match up very well with Buffalo's sputtering run defense. Kansas City makes for another classic Tebow game—low scoring with a few timely plays making the difference. That just might set up in a month a Patriots rematch with a lot more on the line.

Falcons and Lions will make first-round playoff opponents nervous

Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford are sizzling passers again, and that has given both Atlanta and Detroit at 9-5 a comfortable two-game cushion for the NFC's two wild-card spots.

For the Falcons, the wideout combination of Roddy White and Julio Jones gives them a shot to hang with anybody in a shootout. For the Lions, Calvin Johnson has the feel of Larry Fitzgerald of three years ago—a wide receiver who can dominant in the playoffs. Whoever gets the NFC's third seed, be it the 49ers or Saints, and wins the NFC East will have their hands full to open the postseason.

Don't expect a long playoff run for either the Ravens or Jets

When these teams are good, their running games and defenses are exceptional. When they're bad young quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez look shaky. They also get sloppy with turnovers and don't make enough big plays. Their schizophrenic natures make them equally frustrating for their players and fans alike.

Both teams went into the season hoping they would finally get into a better playoff position than their respective division nemeses the Steelers and Patriots, but a familiar script is being written for 2011.

The Ravens and Jets have been able to win on the road to go deep into the playoffs in recent seasons, but their identities are a little different this season. At this point, New England, Houston or even Denver are better bets to dethrone Pittsburgh.

Don't assume the Jets will hold off the Bengals for a wild card

First things first: The Jets can't make any kind of playoff run if they don't get there. They certainly won't win either of their final games if they play like they did in Philadelphia.

The Jets face the playoff-hungry Giants and spoiler-minded Dolphins. The upstart Bengals, meanwhile, will have home field in their favor for avian matchups with the Cardinals and Ravens.

If there was a coach of the year to consider behind Jim Harbaugh and John Fox, it would be Marvin Lewis. And at this point, it's not ridiculous to trust rookie Andy Dalton's quarterback play over Sanchez's in the final two weeks.

We're not saying Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers doesn't still deserve the MVP just because he and his team had one off game. But at the moment, Saints quarterback Brees would be a close second and is in line to end up with more eye-popping numbers.

In year of prolific passing, Brees is putting up record-shattering yardage (4,780) and is now three TD passes (37) behind Rodgers with a league-best completion percentage (71.5). Brees likely won't win it, but it's important to point out that gap has been narrowed.

Don't assume the Colts will still get the top pick in the

Indianapolis might not need to worry about the Peyton Manning-Andrew Luck situation after all. The Colts, who got their first win of the season over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, hold a precarious one-game "lead" over St. Louis and Minnesota (each 2-12) for the No. 1 overall pick. With a home game against Houston and a road matchup at Jacksonville against rookie quarterbacks, Indy can't be ruled out of winning its final two games.

So the focus might shift from Manning vs. Luck to Sam Bradford vs. Luck or Christian Ponder vs. Luck, based on how the strength of schedule tiebreaker shakes out between the teams. It would be interesting in that case, if either the Rams or Vikings decided to give up on their recent first-round QBs for the potential of Luck.